Windrush Generation

The only thing I can come up with is that it was thought to be irrelevant as it was so long ago?

Had you even read the who;le of this thread, lemon before leaping in with your Pollyanna opinions?

This was posted some time earlier today

The Home Office destroyed thousands of landing card slips recording Windrush immigrants’ arrival dates in the UK, despite staff warnings that the move would make it harder to check the records of older Caribbean-born residents experiencing residency difficulties.

Leaping? haven’t done that for a while Maizie.

There had to be a reason for destroying the records, but perhaps you can come up with a better one.
I imagine it was thought that the old paper records were
Irrelevant in the 21st century. Also that people who came here as children in the 1950’s would not need them or would experience residency difficulties, which of course they should not have.

Just what will it take to convince you lemon? You certainly are an apologist for the government. For the record, I made no mention of racism

Well I’m quite prepared to use the word racist - I think as a country we are still institutionally racist and there is much at best unconscious racism about. Racism can be about what you don’t bother to do as much as what you do do- destroying records about mainly black people without considering the possible consequences even when warned is an act rooted in racism imo and refusing to meet with the heads of the Commonwealth as TM initially did was rooted in racism as was her complete lack of concern a few weeks ago about the man refused cancer treatment.

And that’s the link with Grenfell and refusing to let Syrian refugee children in after promising

Nothing will convince the uncritical Government apologists on here that TM doesn’t walk on water

'......reason for destroying the records' ?
This is what someone has just come up with, today, not mentioned that I know of before. (BBC news)
"Keeping them could have broken data protection laws."

WOT?

It would be funny if it weren’t so tragically racist wouldn’t it? Excuses like this are exactly why I don’t believe for one minute that this issue will be dealt with properly. Did anyone hear the interview this morning on R4 - the man sent in various bits of evidence and they were ‘lost’. Of course they were. It’s ironic isn’t it that this is happening on the 25th anniversary of the death of Stephen Lawrence?

As I watched the BBC1 programme on the death of Stephen Lawrence last evening, it was brought home to me just what is meant by the phrase 'institutional racism'. Looking at the way that the Windrush immigrants have been treated, it seems nothing has changed. Shameful!

Even if the Home Office didn't want to house the paper archive of immigration documents surely the norm would have been to scan the archive abd hold it digitally or even offer them to a University or archive as these were important documents of Britain's social and economic history.

Gill no apologist for the government here on this matter,as my comments show, it was very wrong not to have thought that any ‘Windrush’ children may have been caught up in new immigration rules.Incompetent, but not racist.
I cannot see that at all.More the madness of bureaucracy.
I agree it would have been better to scan or archive the registration papers.
Having read more about this, it seems the registration slips
Wouldn’t have helped much,( with immigration matters)
But would have been of historical interest.
I think anyone who is currently having problems will now be helped and that the policy was really badly thought out,
But racist , no.

Shameful Home Office. I emailed the PM’s office to tell them so.
email.number10.gov.uk

lemon the attitude that it is all about ‘the madness of bureaucracy’ is an apologistic attitude. It does not acknowledge the ‘hostile environment’ that TM deliberately and openly intended to- and did - create. It does not acknowledge the ‘Go home’ vans driving around the streets that she instigated. It does not acknowledge the deliberate removal of the clause which would have protected the Windrush generation in the 2014 legislation. It does not acknowledge her refusal to deal with the man refused cancer treating when she said it was up to him to prove his rights to stay. It does not acknowledge her initial refusal to meet with the Commonwealth heads. The landing slips woukd have provided a good starting point for those arriving before 1971. It is a lie that there were Data Protection reasons for destroying them - it was a cavalier attitude towards these people rooted in institutional racism and TMs hostile environment. And finally the Pollyanna tone of your post that everyone will now be helped flies in the face of experience and political reality. Your posts minimise the deepseated wickedness of what underpins this whole sorry saga.

All I can say, is what I have read on this subject, ( not just tv or GN) and the HO say that people will be helped, as up to now, it was up to the people themselves to give proof, and now the gov dept will go through tax, employment records etc.Anybody can also enlist the help of their MP if needed.
So, why not have a positive attitude if things will now change?
The ‘Go Home’ vans were aimed at illegal immigrants and it said so on the side of the vans.I agree that their use was unpleasant though.
I think wicked and evil are strong words and should be reserved for such as Assad.
It is a sorry saga and was thoughtlessly put in motion, is how I see it.

Is anyone who was in danger of being deported, or who had family in this situation, who lost their jobs, lost their home, ever going to trust this government again?

One of the Jamaican-born men speaking on TV had the same name as my grandsons. 3 of whom are half Jamaican. Their grandparents came and were married here in 1962. If they were still alive, they might have been deported!

Anyone who has any relation they care for, no matter how distant, who has Caribbean blood is going to be affected here.....it's not confined to the actual 'Windrush' people!

If you had been deported, thrown out of this country by this government....would you want to come back?

But what about the removal of the clause in the 2014 legislation that previously had protected the WG? Why the refusal to meet with the Heads? A great deal of thoughtlessness begins to look like evil and racism to me and plenty of others.

Having a positive attitude in this case flies in the face of experience

MaryEliza, I agree. Both thoughtless and institutionally racist.

I wondered about the card index deletaions and so looked at where records are kept. The NationalArchives hold Home office correspondence dating back to the 16 century. They also have naturalisation records dating back to 1800s. Which makes it even more strange that such a valuable record of historical migration should have been destroyed. It woud seem to be an act of vandalism and possibly politically motivated.

No just institutionally racist - simple

I'm inclined to agree with your description of this whole sorry affair as "wickedness", maryeliza. The PM and HS will have been kept up to date on the effects of their legislation and can't possibly claim they are now shocked. Good grief, I read about some of the cases months ago! The apologies and backtracking are meaningless. The threats of exclusion and denial of healthcare are completely in keeping with the spirit of that horrific slogan bus they came up with. I can't help but wonder, too, how many other people who've spent most of their lives here have been caught up in this - it can't be just the Windrush children, can it?

Most of the cases could have been resolved by the authorities accessing central work and pension records. Instead the onus was put on individuals, causing them untold difficulties and stress. And as for destroying the landing cards....! When I worked in schools, we kept our old registration records, which went back to at least the 1930s. When we were taken over by an Academy Trust and given a new identity, we were told to send all our records to the Local Authority. Six months later someone called at the school asking to see his name on the roll and I was told by the LA that all the records had been destroyed.

I’m listening to a phone in - heartbreaking stories. Undocumented being equated with illegal. I wonder if there are WG people living in those Council areas trialling having to have id to vote in next months local elections? Hummmm mmm

I know the shameful vans bearing the In the U.K. illegally? Go home or face arrest. were not aimed at the Windrush Generation but it must have been pretty unpleasant for all immigrants illegal or not. Theresa May’s hostile environment policy when she was Home Secretary.
Not technically racist but very divisive.

goo.gl/images/E854Am

I am quite perplexed by his situation. Am I right in thinking that the actual Windrush emigrants are here absolutely legally. The problem has arisen when family members including children of initial emgrees have come here and these were not registered as such on arrival, I.e. they came on holiday visas or similar and never went home. Is this the case or what? Even if this was the case, they should be recorded in the system, schools, doctors etc. and wouldn't long residency and subsequent citizenship be reasonably easy to get. Could there be fault on both sides?
Sadly however, all of our service industries seem to have list common sense and personal touch.

May contradicted:
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/17/home-office-destroyed-windrush-landing-cards-says-ex-staffer